Zen and the Art of Speedskating

as always, when El Blue Demon appears, so does an opponent…

El Diablo Melancolico is the greatest challenge he has ever faced!

The two combatants race and wrestle…

A crowd gathers, cheering for El Blue Demon.

People cheer because when they see an athlete struggle, they know it, they understand, they feel part of what he feels.

The cheering, & the thoughts of those who believe in him, pour into El Blue Demon like wildfire. Muscles hardened from a lifetime of training kick into action.

There are only 3 themes in all of literature-
Man vs. Man
Man vs. Nature
and Man vs Himself.

This year, El Blue Demon’s record was 1 win, 1 tie, and 1 loss.

He lost vs Derek Parra, because Derek is a stud.

He tied vs. the wind, because no one can pin the wind.

And he won vs. himself, the hardest and most frequent opponent of all.

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Filed under: from the coffee shop

Day 1 of the 3 day Champions Challenge, the final race of the year in Salt Lake, and something absolutely amazing happens.

Check out this scoreboard after the 1500m races-

Since when did Great Britain ever become a long track power?

Phil Brojaka is skating absolutely incredibly right now, he topped this list of Americans including an inline world champion, and a pile of US national sprint & allaround team members.

It’s easy to complain, as an American, how small & neglected a sport speedskating is compared to others. But think of the road Phil has to walk!

Phil will never skate in a British Long track national championships, there are no mentors or local coaches with Olympic Long Track experience.

Along with his countryman Matt Lindsay, Phil trains in Milwaukee, far from home, with the “unsinkable” Bob Fenn.

Dear British Olympic selection committee. Send Phil to the world cups & the Olympic games!! He is at that level. Grant his teammate Matt Lindsay the appropriate Visas to keep training in the USA.

Both men work astonishingly hard on Bob’s training program, and if I must lapse into the UK vernacular, they are BLOODY GOOD representatives of your country, both personally and athletically.

Besides, that Brit flag skinsuit is just wild.

Here is a link to the page with full results from all the racing.

In other news, there was a terrifying moment during warm-ups. I was relaxing in the warmup lane, in the corner, and Charlie Mahoney zips by me at 30+mph doing a full power accel.

A normal thing to do during warm-ups.

Some other skaters, 50 feet past me, were filling the warmup lane in his path, Charlie had no choice but to veer off into the empty race track, again, this happens in warmups.

But Todd Porter was standing right there in the race lane in his shoes, getting the track ready for racing.

It was a horrific impact. Both men were down on the ice for some time. Everyone in the rink had a sick feeling as coaches & staff rushed over.

Todd was ok, Charlie was deeply bruised, and in a good deal of pain the rest of the weekend, but luckily was still able to skate, and set 3 personal bests on fast Salt Lake ice.

It could have been so much worse.

Is there some karmic reason that Charlie’s nickname is “The Crash”?

Evidently the security cameras caught the whole thing on tape. I don’t ever want to see it, once was enough.

Matt Plummer went sub-36 in his 500m for the first time, 35.96. He was very happy. Here he is in blue, driving off the line with another “guy in red” Matt Shanahan.

What you can’t see in this photo is some serious crazy tempo, but you can see excellent knee drive directly down the track. That’s hard to do when legspeed is a blur.

I will finish this day with a report on the happiest note I can find. Mia Manganello skated an excellent 1500m PB, in a time that beat many of the guys.

I’ve known Mia for several years now; everyone at the oval can see her talent, drive, and how solidly her family is behind her (no pressure Mia, Really!).

But yaknow, when it’s race time, no matter the talent or the support, it’s still just Mia, alone in that lane, and when that last lap of the 1500 is crushing both body and soul (as in this photo), facing it’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever known..

Efforts like Mia put out today that are why I find long track such an inspiring sport.

Day 2, Champions Challenge

Tyler Goff is a fascinating skater to watch, both from a technical & psychological standpoint. His long legs create tremendous pressure into the ice, and the angles his body takes during skating remind me of Olympic gold medalist Joey Cheek.

But Tyler will be the first to admit that he finds it hard to motivate himself to race at his best week-in and week-out. Tyler’s saving grace is that he always skates exceptionally well when the pressure is on.

However, this year he worked harder than ever in the off-season, has skated consistently, and this particular weekend his long-distance girlfriend Katie was out for a visit to Salt Lake.

With added motivation rinkside, Tyler was absolutely on fire, winning the overall 500m & 1000m, breaking his 1500m personal best and tying his 1000m PB. He was so fast, my camera just would not focus correctly on him at all.

Katie, you will be out here to cheer him on at nationals, right? Olympic trials too?

Mark Yanigahara came out from Saratoga Saratoga springs, N.Y., for some fast ice, and also lopped off huge chunks from his former personal best times. He can really get it going off the start line.

Mark was a US national champion at Greco-roman wrestling in his weight class, but fell in love with speedskating, and has never found anything so wonderful & frustrating at the same time. I met him years ago, during one of my first weekends ever on a long track, it’s been a wild journey for both of us.

Eli Ochowicz, a sprinter taking on the 3k! yeah! For those of us in the “fast-twitch-fraternity” distance races are very difficult. I don’t know if I have ever seen her skate with both arms on her back, but she was very smooth.

Justin Stelly simply crushed everyone in the 5k. I’ve shot a lot of video of Justin over time, so I know his style well. He looks so different now than he did last year, I have a hard time recognizing him through the camera viewfinder.

I used to just look for the flailing limbs, he is quite smooth now, and that’s an essential reason why he skated well at the world cup this year.

In this series, from early in his 5k, look at the patch of red on his hood in relation to the pads behind him, to see how he sinks into each push, and then rises out of it. For many distance skaters like Stelly, this up & down motion, during every push, minimizes the very tiring static phase of distance skating.

The key is to “sink into the push”, not the opposite.

Day 3

The final day of the Champions Challenge. A test for the sprinters in the 1,000m, the women had a 5,000m, and then there was the 10,000m for the very fit/insane, or according to Ron Macky “the real men”.

When I’m tired, & worn out, those little voices in my head start echoing: “you are getting old, WTF are you thinking doing something like this?!?!”

It’s absolutely true that something changed physiologically, in me, about two years ago. That is just a fact, and no amount of positive thinking will change it.

However, this whole weekend, I’ve felt young, springy, solid, every part of my skating & recovery was the best I can be. When the young guns were complaining about being tired, I was still smiling.

I PB’ed in the 5,000m & 10,000m during the Champions Challenge, but I am most proud of my 1,000. It was the fastest time I have skated in 2 years, and physically, it felt like one of the best 1,000’s I have ever done. I can only identify a few small missteps in the first turn; the rest of it was about as solid as I can be.

The last race of the year is not just about results, it’s also about hope, and finishing the year on a great race leaves a taste that makes the transition to summer training much easier.

In these photos, the fellow in black is the WHIP program’s Alex Mark. This junior national team inliner was my pair for both the 1,500 and 1,000m.

For some reason, people paired with me skate PB’s, and both of his races were big PB’s for him. It was a lot of fun racing Alex. Even though he beat me both times, it was close, intense, fun stuff.

I did skate the 10k, and won’t talk much about it except to say that after the huge effort I put in during the 1k my legs were garbage. I finished the 10k without throwing up on myself, and that was enough.

I had fun skating the 10k last year, but this year it was uniquely horrid. I’m not sure I EVER want to do that again.

Here is a link to the page with full results from all the racing.

Patrick Meek had a lot riding on this weekend, as the selection for the US National allaround team next year is still up in the air. He responded to the pressure with strong PB’s in the 1500m and the 10,000m. Pat, I know I’m not on the selection committee, but you have my vote.

It’s good the season is over, it’s been long, and I am not the only one who thinks so, as here is Jessica’s tongue-in-cheek sentiment-

Her happiness emphasizes the fact that this sport is SO HARD, it’s almost impossible to do without the encouragement of those you love.

Thanks Jess…

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Filed under: RACE DAY

Many thanks to Canadian Rejean Lavoie for the help with the high speed access, otherwise I would not have be able to post anything from Europe.

My brother wrote in a comment–

“this is gonna be epic”

Yeah, it was…. Omigosh… it was EPIC.

Blogs are not chronologically set up well, as you read the latest posting before the first, so you know what happens before you see how it starts.

But for these 3 posts, as I am posting them chronologically to make better reading. I wrote in bits & pieces when I could. It’s hard work to blog & race & attend the endless meetings of the IMSSC (I am the USA rep to the group that puts this event on).

Enjoy!!!

I am finally uploading this from the floor of the JFK airport, and I stink like only 30+ hours of travel + racing + a party can make a man stink.

I am glad blogs only communicate words & images, not smell.

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Filed under: on the road

Any day is a good day when you are at an indoor oval, and chatting with fellas like Ragnvald Naess. He is as warm as his smile indicates.

Click on this image of him to see a larger version, & so you can see all the detail of the amazing patches on his jacket. He has skated all over the world, and has patches on this jacket from everywhere.

He wants a patch from the USA, does anyone have one? Do we even make jacket patches anymore?

Rangvald is 54 years old, and has skated over 50 10k’s. He wants to skate 100 10k’s Yeah, there are a lot of extraordinary folks here, from all over the world.

But to the races.

I skate a solid 1500m, good for 2nd in my group, and gave me some more cushion on the pile of quality distance skaters right on my heels. It hurt, but in a good way.

It’s easy to say you are a true sportsman, but do you really mean it? Jan Duif of the Netherlands lost his fast skinsuit. He is the main competition of my friend Marty Haire.

So I loaned him my backup fast suit. This is what this event is about. It was wild to see my suit whipping around the track, but without me in it.

Jan skated a huge PB in the 1500, and jokingly did not want to give my suit back. Marty was 2nd again, also skating a massive PB, both skaters going in the 1:57’s, and Jan increased his lead slightly in the overall.

Tom “cosmopolitan” Cole PB’ed in both his 1500, and 3k today, and moved up strongly to 10th overall, in the 45-50’s. Go TOM!!!

He joked that the track in Petoskey, Michigan, should host Masters Worlds someday.

My turn for the 3k, I skated what I’ve found is the best strategy for me, skate 4 very fast laps, and then struggle to the finish like a flaming lactic meatball. This was the crucial distance in this meet for me. I could not lose too much time. I started with several 32’s, and faded horribly to a 39.

I will not post pictures of the “flaming lactic meatball” moments. It was ugly.

My pair, the superstrong Dutchman Piet Hjoksma, obliterated me, and the rest of the field, and Danny Fredericks’ 3k masters Calgary world record in one shot.

It was expected, but still awesome from my front row-seat to watch him motor.

I finished almost last, but I did not lose huge gobs of time to everyone other than Piet, I’m still in second place.. Every pair I have had during these masters games, they have skated personal bests against me.

Jim Cornell, he is skating solidly in 7th place. Jim broke his collarbone earlier this year, and that hugely impacted his preseason preparation. To see him still skating in the top 10 masters, in such an intense age category, is inspiring.

Norwegian Marja Haartsen, at the start, driving hard off the line, then 400m later at her top speed.

Ivar watching from home in Norway, you are missed by all of us! (Especially me, I want to race you in a 500m someday!)

Canadian Genevieve Provencher, also at the start and then ripping along at top speed. These are some smart, fast, awesome skaters here. Everyone tries to bring their “A+ GAME” to worlds. Most succeed.

So Marty lines up for the 3k directly with his main Dutch rival, and the one that many Europeans expect to win this weekend.

Jan Duif had an incredible battle with Brian Boudreau last year in Calgary during the 3k, it was one of the best races I have ever seen.

Jan beat Brian that day, but was 2nd overall to Canadian Benoit Lamarche in the overall. Now Jan has another North American on his hands. They are 1-2 in the standings

Jan goes our hard, and opens up a solid lead on Marty.

Marty smoothly chases him down, no panicking-

and skating repeated 32 second laps, Marty PASSES JAN AND WINS!!

It was an amazing skate! Canadian Brett Arnason stated out our sentiments most clearly when he hollered to an exhausted Marty.

There are not enough O’s in the word “SMOOTH” to describe that skate!!!

We did not realize it until later in the Evening, that Marty’s time of 4:05 was a NEW MASTERS WORLD RECORD!!

(world record? It’s a difficult question, as Masters speedskaters are denied the right by the ISU to call our fastest times “masters world records”. We are denied what swimmers, cyclists & track & field masters have. But Marty beat Jon Arthur Olafson’s amazing race from from Calgary last year, so yeah, it’s a world record in the hearts of everyone here).

Here are the men’s 45-50 standings so far.

Tomorrow, the 5,000m!

Jan & Marty are separated by a “Haire” in the 5k. If Marty wins the race by a little over a second, he is Masters champ.

Jim & Tom & myself also qualified to skate the final distance (only the top half of the ranking skates the longest race in a meet like this). This is good.

I’m still in second in my age category, but have strong Finnish skater Vesa Isoviita chasing me during my worst event, and his best, the 5,000m.

First place is far out of reach, but I do have a lead on Vesa & a Russian. If I just execute & “suffer well” I should be able to hang onto second place, but as Kenny Rodgers sings:

You never count your money, when you’re sitting at the table, there will be time enough for counting, when the dealing’s done!

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Filed under: RACE DAY, on the road

The clouds crack open at dawn, a whole planeload of travelers sit blearily upright, and suddenly the density of Europe sprawls underneath.

European trains rock! This is the futuristic ICE train from Frankfurt to Erfurt. ICE= Inter-City-Express. It looks more like a gleaming rocket than a train.

To the right is the tattoo of the engineer. I don’t know why I found this so funny, but I did.

I have comfort in a high-tech train being piloted by a huge man with a big tattoo.

When the train started moving, it was so gentle & silent, that I did not realize we were moving for about 30 seconds, then I looked out the window and saw the world whooshing by.

Immediately to the ice in Erfurt..

Here is the live webcam link to the rink. You can see the feel of the place… As the cam refreshes every minute.

Here is the outside of the Hall, it’s actually not that huge, as facilities like this go, nothing like Hamar or Salt Lake. Erfurt blends gently into the hillside.

The rink is quite good, the lanes are narrow & tight & the ice is very hard. It will be a challenging place to rip a 500m, but a great place for distance races.

There are many good folks here from many nations; we are having a lot of fun… for example. Here a is a quote from Star Wars & following goofyness.

Ben Kenobi: I suggest you try it again, Luke. This time, let go your conscious self and act on instinct. (Ben puts a helmet on luke)

Luke Skywalker: But, with the blast shield down, I can’t even see. How am I supposed to fight?

Ben Kenobi: Your eyes can deceive you. Don’t trust them. Remember, a Jedi can feel the Force flowing through him.

Actually, this is not a blast shield, it’s a Delta airlines eye cover that I was given on the flight over. It matches my suit perfectly.

And one must certainly feel the “force” flowing. Even if it is just the force from your body through the skates & into the ice. Try too hard and you go really slow..

Here is part of a mural in the hallway underneath the ice rink. There is lots of Graffiti in Europe, very, very weird.

Lest one thinks that this is just a blog about old folks, I have a thought for the junior skaters out there. After the master’s sessions, I see groups of young Germans (top) and Romanians (bottom) take the ice, and they are quite serious & focused in their training.

Train hard, dream big! and junior skaters, if you ever make the world cup level, the focus and intensity you “put in the bank now” it will help you compete better.

And even more importantly, if you make it to that level, these folks might be your friends someday.

Americans NEED to travel, we need friends from other countries, we are so isolated! (physically, media-culture, and psychologically. Yes we have neighbors, but they are very quiet, or maybe we are just too loud to listen to them.)

I’ve greeted many old friends here, people that I met for the first time at Master’s meets 4 years ago. Travel is a gift of skating, as are the people.

I had dinner with the Italian team a few nights ago, what wonderful people, what a family of sportsmen!! They have 4 Olympians in their group of 13, and 5 time Olympian/world champion Roberto Sighel is one of them.

The draw was held in a huge, ornamental hall filled with 200 athletes of all ages, from 12 different countries. I wish I had panned up to get the multiple chandeliers. Masters worlds are a big friggin deal.

They have a supercool computer program that randomly picks names on the right, and fills in the pairs on the left. I think “wunderbar!” is the right term in German.

I was relieved, with the tightness of the track, to have the inner start/final outer in the 500m

Travel is great, but we are here to race, and I have a job to do..

I race the 500m in a few hours, and when I think about it, my insides start shaking, and I must repeat to myself, over and over.

YOU PRACTICE THIS ALL THE TIME, YOU WORK HARD, YOU ARE 100% READY.

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Filed under: from the coffee shop